pharyngula

Speaking of the ABC, I revisited their Global Atheist Convention blog, which I can say without hesitation was absolutely the worst effort any of the media put out. I think I prefer the blatant stupidity of a Gary Ablett to the mawkish blitherings of a gang of pious apologists — at least it's honest…

I can't complain much about this coverage: ABC plays big chunks of the talks by PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins and Peter Singer. Natasha Mitchell, the host, just lets us talk. She also has the complete and unedited recordings of the talks by Dawkins and myself on her blog. Although, apparently, I run…

Mike Vanderboegh is one of those teabagger patriots — he's very upset about illegal immigrants, he's one of those paramilitary fanatics, he hates Democrats, and lately he's gotten completely unhinged about the passage of our watered down health care bill. He's so irate that now he's publicly…

The London Times has a piece on Ayala's Templeton prize, and it annoys me early: Professor Francisco Ayala, who won the £1 million Templeton Prize for scientific thought, Say what? There's no amount of science you can do that will win you a Templeton prize. It's a prize for religious apologetics,…

This poll misses a golden opportunity. What do you think Sarah Palin should do next? Run for president. 46% Run for some other office. 5% Continue speaking as private citizen. 10% Something else. 40% "Something else"? But what? I can imagine lots of things I'd like to see Sarah Palin do…like get…

The regal figure to the right is Terrill Dalton. He had a vision that revealed that he, personally, was the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ's dad. Who knew the Holy Ghost would look a bit like the Pillsbury Doughboy? Anyway, the Holy Ghost has come down a bit in the world. He's now living in a collection…

Yeah, I'm on Skeptic Zone #75. I think this is the one recorded in the pub in Canberra, with Dr Rachael Dunlop.

The attack beasts of Pharyngula have been talking about their pets, so here are some vicious carnivores devouring their prey. Talk about whatever you want.

Uroteuthis chinensis Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

I'll be on the air with Scooter on KPFT shortly, at about 10:30 central time. There is live streaming, if you're interested. I think we'll be talking about Australia and the Global Atheist Convention, but who knows? That guy is crazy.

I hope I didn't catch something in the Antipodes. There seems to be something awful going around down there: Ken Ham, Ray Comfort, and now…Gary Ablett, Sr. He's an Australian rules footballer with a few seedy drug-related incidents in his past — he's also a world-class moron. He's just written a…

How dare the Northeast Florida CoR put up such an evil sign! I am totally unsurprised that half the people so far find it offensive. We wouldn't want unbelievers to be anything but alone, after all. Are you offended by the message in this atheist billboard? Yes (54.1%) No (45.9%) Hmm. Those…

As yet another examples of the derangement of conservative thought, Sean Hannity has been pushing a list of 102 examples of 'wasteful' stimulus spending. I don't quite get it; this is money the government is disbursing to encourage jobs for the sake of jobs, and if they were hiring people to dig…

Tebow is an obnoxious hyper-religious football player. He recently had to take some kind of test with a group of other players, and this is what happened: At the Scouting Combine, the Wonderlic exam is administered to players in groups.  The 12-minute test is preceded by some brief…

…a politically brilliant choice, Francisco Ayala. He's a former priest who has argued for respect for religion while not going quite as far as some of the other possibilities in endorsing it, he's been fairly circumspect about not presenting ridiculous rationales for religion, but he's also an…

Imagine that a well-funded astrology organization were to establish a prize awarding a good chunk of money to a scientist who best affirmed the validity of astrology, all as part of a campaign to bestow a whiff of credibility to the belief that the position of the stars at the time you were born…

James Cameron was caught in an interview saying what he really thinks about Glenn Beck, Fox News, global warming denialists, and let's just say he uses a few terms that would send the Colgate Twins to their fainting couches. He also happens to be a vocal celebrity atheist. I've sworn off…

Greece is rapidly heading towards economic collapse, and this has finally motivated tho do something that should have been done long ago: The Greek government has announced it will start taxing churches as part of its efforts to get out of its financial crisis. A new draft bill to be tabled in…

Epipogium aphyllum Find out more about the Ghost Orchid. (Mary bobs a curtsy to SEF for finding this one)

We have further information from the University of Ottawa about Coulter's non-appearance last night. Last night, the organizers themselves decided at 7:50 p.m. to cancel the event and so informed the University's Protection Services staff on site. At that time, a crowd of about one thousand people…

The Templeton Prize is going to be awarded soon, and they've found a venue for it: the National Academy of Sciences. Please note that last word, science — the Templeton Prize has no connection to that subject. Previous winners include Mother Theresa, Chuck Colson, and Billy Graham — professional…

Nikki Owen is "a practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming and TV commentator who is described as Britain's leading charisma expert." Let that sink in. You just know she's got to be an utterly astounding dingbat, and you wouldn't be wrong. Anyway, she has made an incredible claim that is…

Dear Friends and Freethinkers, The Freethought Association of Canada, the charity that brought you the wildly successful Canadian Atheist Bus Campaign, is having its 2010 annual general meeting! Everyone interested in the FAC and its future is welcome to attend the meeting and participate. We…

Some sneaky slams against ID here…

A Lutheran church in Wisconsin runs a school (unfortunately). The school council has 'doctrinal issues' with the fellow they hired as principal — he seems to think that the idea that men have authority over women is invalid. So they had a meeting to fire John Hartwig, and something at the meeting…

Wow, I thought Cardinal George Pell was thick…but his second-in-command, Bishop Porteous, sounds like he could be even crazier. They're hiring an exorcist for Australia, and he's full of ominous warnings about evil things. The appointment of a new exorcist by Sydney's Catholic Church precedes a…

Word.

This evening's R&R for the Trophy Wife™ and myself is a lovely cup of tea made with some of the sampler of Australian teas I was generously given by Annie M. this past weekend. We like it. Thanks very much!

Ann Coulter, professional harridan, was scheduled to give a talk at the University of Ottawa tonight. It has been cancelled, citing a large number of protesters (which is not a problem, I would hope people would publicly express their displeasure!), and the possibility of violence (which is a…